Abstract:
Turkish-European relations have long been characterised by Turkey's desire for full EU
membership. Yet, scholarship has often overlooked the fact that these relations are also
marked by ambivalence. Prevalent discursive and ideational constructions in Turkey
about its 'Europeanness' have clashed with fears that a further Europeanisation of the
country would undermine the country's very identity. Thus, what explains this seemingly
contradictory drive for EU membership? Unfortunately, mainstream theories of
International Relations cannot answer this question because their analytic purview
marginalises ideational factors and questions of identity. This thesis therefore employs a
constructivist framework. The central finding of this thesis is that Turkey's pursuit of EU
membership is best explained by understanding the centrality of identity in Turkey's
European policy. Turkish identity, which links directly to the notion of contemporary
European civilisation, reveals the underlying causes for the longstanding ambivalence in
Turkey-EU relations. Specifically, this ambivalence results, on the one hand, from
Turkey's drive towards Europe in the "will to civilisation" that has characterised the country since the Kemalist revolution and, on the other hand, from the increasing sense of
insecurity that the country has recently been experiencing as a result of the emergence of
powerful counter-identities that have threatened the homogeneous and secular nature of
the Turkish state.
